Ask a Manager

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Can I tell callers that my coworkers aren’t likely to call them back?

Part of my current position involves answering phones and screening calls. Sometimes that means putting people through to voicemail when my boss or coworkers don’t have time for calls. However, one of the things I’ve noticed is that there are some companies out there that call regularly, sometimes several times a week, and my boss and/or coworkers have told me they will not take calls from them. Usually I just transfer them to voicemail, but then they call back later when they do not receive a response. This is ongoing, sometimes for weeks or months at a time. I feel for these people, making call after call and not getting anywhere. Is it rude or helpful for me to give them a heads up that we’re not interested and/or that the intended party is not going to call them back?

Many of these are sales calls, but some could be other calls. Sometimes they won’t give me very much information. My boss likes me to find out what the call is regarding before he decides whether to accept it. When they won’t tell me, he usually will let it go to voicemail (and most of the time they don’t actually leave a message, but just hang up). A few days pass and it’s lather, rinse, repeat.

If they’re all sales calls, it’s probably fine to say, “I’m sorry, but she doesn’t accept sales calls. Please take us off your list.” But I’d ask your coworkers if they’d like you to do that before just doing it — because you could cause a major relationship disaster for someone if it’s not a sales call and you say “Jane isn’t interested in taking these calls” to the wrong person (like, say, a client or a vendor seeking payment).

You should check with the people you’re screening for about this too, but it’s generally okay to say to people who refuse to share the nature of their call, “I’m sorry, but I can’t transfer you if you won’t share the nature of the call, but I can put you through to her voicemail.”

2. My employer offered me a demotion or said I could resign or be fired

For the last 6 months, I’ve essentially been on “probation” with my supervisor, determining if this manager role is a good fit for me. His conclusion is that I do not possess the skills necessary for this role. Instead of terminating my employment, they offered me another position – a demotion to a role that I was supervising. They stated they do not want to lose me. Even though I do not yet have another job lined up, I have decided to turn down this role. I do not feel it would be a good move for my career, nor for this team. When I turned down this offer, I had the option to resign or to be terminated. I chose to resign.

Given the situation, what should I tell my team and colleagues? I’m not leaving by my own choice – even though technically, I am the one who has chosen to resign because I did not want the other options. I don’t want to leave on bad terms or badmouth my boss, as I know that can haunt you later! But how can I be honest about the situation without tarnishing my reputation or my boss’s?

Often in this situation, people work with their manager on messaging that lets them save face a bit — so that you’re not stuck saying “they wanted to demote me” and they’re not saying “we asked her to leave.” One option people often use is a simple statement that they realized (either on their own, or mutually with the employer) that the role wasn’t the right fit. Some people will assume there’s more to the story, but it’s a good, basic line to use when you don’t want to get into details.

So, it might sound like this: “I appreciated the opportunity to work with all of you, but ultimately didn’t feel it was the right fit for me.” Or, “I realized that ultimately I’m looking for a role with more ___.”

3. Alternatives to traditional team-building

I am investigating how to bring a group of very diverse coworkers together (2 women, 16 men, and both women are very new to the team). I started googling team building and I think it’s a rotten idea. What else do you suggest?

We are currently a group of people in the same space who don’t really connect with one another except for the occasional testosterone-filled chest beating. This usually lasts about 20 mins – all the guys get together and complain about a situation they can’t fix (cuz we work for the government and some things just can’t be fixed). Then they all go back to their desks and continue being solitary.

Is it causing any problems that they’re so solitary? Do people need to working together in different, more effective ways? If not, then I”d question if you even need to take any action. If if the answer is yes, then you figure out specifically what the problems are that you want to address (“not connecting enough” isn’t one, but things like “working at cross purposes” or “not communicating well about work needs” are), and then you address those. For instance, if you’re finding that people aren’t communicating well and it’s harming their projects, then you figure out what type of communication would solve that and implement systems to get it. The typical team-building crap like group athletic events or trust falls have no place here, as you’ve rightly concluded.

4. Employer followed up on my job application by text message

I recently applied to a minimum wage job at an ice-cream shop. A couple days after I handed in the application, I got a text from the manager, asking me what my availability was and saying to text back with my name and phone number if I was still interested. (There were a lot of typos and hardly any punctuation.) I texted back with my name and time frame and added that she could call me at the number she was texting.

It didn’t end up working out, but I’m just wondering if this is a common thing to do – on the application I didn’t say that my phone was a cell phone, so it seems strange that they would choose to text instead of emailing or calling.

Not common or wise, but not unheard of either. It’s typically the province of relatively unprofessional managers with a fairly chaotic style.

5. Should I give inexperienced candidates some guidance on interviewing?

I’m about to start scheduling phone interviews with applicants for two open graduate assistant positions, and I was wondering if you have any thoughts on whether it’s worthwhile to give the applicants any pointers on how to prepare themselves for the interview.

The positions I’m hiring for are administrative/reception in nature, so it’s more useful to me that they be able to learn quickly, follow instructions, prepare adequately than that they innately know how to prepare for an interview. Because most of them will be coming straight from high school or college, I feel giving them pointers on preparation will give me a better sense of them as people and workers. Plus, as a recent graduate myself, I know I would have appreciated this kind of help during my own job search. So far, I’m thinking I’d suggest this:
1) Be familiar with our website, mission, and goals.
2) Be prepared to discuss your expected course load, schedule (if you have it), and potential availability over the next few months/semesters.
3) Be prepared to explain, briefly, why you are a good candidate for this position.
4) Be prepared to discuss your career goals as it relates to your current program of study.

What I hope to take away from the phone interviews is whether the applicant can follow directions; whether the applicant will actually have time for this job; whether the applicant can perform with preparation; whether the applicant is a sane, logical person; and whether this person has potential to fit with the chemistry/culture of our grad school. (The faculty and staff can be hard to work with.)

Last time, I did one interview over Skype, because we were interviewing at a weird time of year and were crunched for time. I hired that one person and was extremely fortunate. I don’t expect to get that lucky again without doing my due diligence. Thoughts?

I think that’s great to do — you’re working with an inexperienced group of candidates, and you want them to be as equipped as possible to show you whether they’re the right fit for the job or not. And you’re right that you don’t want to test how well they interview; you want to get beyond that and see who will be great at the job, so setting them up as best as you can to help you determine that is smart. What you’re proposing will help you see who’s able to take a small amount of guidance and run with it, and who isn’t or doesn’t.

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Interviewer wants me to commit to the job before they make an offer

I had an interview with a company that is a direct competitor with my current employer. The two companies have similar contracts with the same agencies. There have been a few employees that have switched from one of the companies over to the other one. The prospective employer even knows all of the key people who I currently work with and their work experience.

The interview went really well and I got a good feeling of what the job duties and my possible career path were going to be. The interviewer told me that he likes everything that I had to offer. He then explained that the company policy is to ask for the person to commit to the job before getting an actual offer. He explained that in past history that interviewees would go back with offers to their current employers to see if they would match the offer and most of the times that they would. He said that he wanted to make sure I am committed to working for their company and not be able to go back to my current employer to negotiate salary. He eventually discussed salary and he stated that it didn’t matter (within reason) what my salary was going to be as long as it wasn’t negotiable with my current employer. Through the discussion, I found out they would be willing to pay me much more than I currently make. I am currently paid around industry average. Have you ever heard of a company approaching offers in this manner? Is this a red flag?

It’s absurd, because obviously you can’t commit to an offer without knowing the specifics of the salary and benefits — and it’s unreasonable for them to ask you to commit before they’ve even decided if they want to hire you. That said, I’d interpret the request as meaning “we want to know that you’re genuinely interested in this role and not simply hoping to use it as a way to get more money out of your current employer.” That’s not really something they have a right to demand either, but it’s a little more reasonable than the way he’s framing it.

I don’t think it’s necessarily a sign that they’re crazy in general; they might just handle this one thing weirdly, although I’d take it as a sign to be extra alert for other weirdness. You should never take a job without having a really good sense of the culture, management style, and how they operate generally, but it’s especially true when weirdness like this pops up.

As for what to say, I’d go with, “I obviously can’t commit to accepting an offer without seeing the details of it, but I’m very interested, and I don’t plan to use an offer to try to get a counteroffer from my employer. If I just wanted a raise from my employer, I would have already asked them for one. I’m interested in this job because ___.”

2. Contacting the person who had my job before me

Is it ok to contact the previous person who was in the position you are currently in? I never worked with or met the previous employee of my current position, but I am new to the role and wanted to reach out to them just to get a “quick and dirty” of some of the company’s special procedures to be sure I am not missing any details or steps. I am really just trying to be as efficient as possible so I can be successful in the role. I am currently finding things as they come, which creates re-work, etc.

Well, they don’t work there anymore. It’s one thing if you have one or two quick, specific questions, but most people are going to be annoyed if you contact them with something this open-ended and want them to give you a broad overview when they’re no longer being paid for their time.

3. How do I motivate a coworker?

How do I motivate a coworker? We work on projects that can be weeks or months long. We are all on the same level of pay and are expected to be capable of doing the projects from start to finish. We do have a manager but are pretty much self-managed and are expected to be motivated. Our manager is rarely needed.

How do I motivate a coworker so I am not left doing 90% of the projects? I will ask this coworker to do x,y,z (although he should know as he has been doing this job for longer than me). I shouldn’t have to ask him to do anything as he should know. The problem is if he doesn’t do his share, I am left doing most of the work because the work has to get done. It’s stressful and I find myself angry a lot of the time. The manager does know about this person and has spoken to him about doing his share of the work. It works for a few days than he is back to his regular non-productive self.

You can’t motivate a coworker. He either is or isn’t motivated. If he’s not, then you talk to your manager about how that’s affecting your work and ask how she’s like you to handle it. If your manager won’t deal with it, then the problem is more your manager than your coworker.

However, you could also start being more direct with this coworker and say something like, “You are leaving me to do the majority of work on our shared projects. How can we split this evenly and ensure that it doesn’t fall to me to assign you pieces?”

4. Wearing shorts to work

I’ve been working at a startup for the past 6 months, and now that the weather is warm, many of my colleagues are wearing shorts to work. We are all young, in our early to mid 20s, and there is no dress code. I feel kind of weird about wearing shorts to work, as I want to maintain a professional appearance. Do you think it’s okay to wear or shorts like some of my colleagues do on hot days or should I dress a cut above everyone and maintain a more professional appearance? I usually wear jeans and a button down or polo shirt.

It really depends on your workplace culture. In many offices, shorts would be wildly out-of-place. That doesn’t seem to be the case in your office, so therefore there’s nothing wrong with wearing them there if you want to. The only addendum I’d make to that is whether you notice any pattern to who does and doesn’t wear shorts. If everyone wearing them is lower-level and no one in management wears them, then you might take that as an indication that if you want to be promoted at some point, it might be useful to present yourself the way people in the roles you want to move into present themselves.

5. Coworker punched my significant other outside of work

My significant other was physically assaulted by a coworker last night following a work event. He was at work-sponsored function and after the designated hours of the event, many employees stayed at the venue at which point employee very drunkenly punched my SO multiple times (SO did not instigate nor retaliate and is fine). Is it reasonable for the employee to be disciplined for actions that occurred outside business hours? My SO thinks he cannot report this as it occurred after the event formally concluded. To me it seems like a no-brainer and I think the employee should be fired.

It’s absolutely reasonable for him to report this! The fact that it wasn’t during the work event itself or during work hours is irrelevant. His coworker punched him, multiple times. Most managers would want to know that one of their employees is punching other employees. If your significant other needs convincing, point out to him that harassment policies (and harassment laws) cover behavior outside of work as well as inside — and after all, if your boss aggressively sexually harassed you outside of work hours, he’d still probably think you should report it, right? No difference here.

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. I was promised benefits with my job that I’m not getting

I was promised non-monetary perks during my job interview process like working from home days, a cell phone and the ability to bring my dog to work a handful of days a week. I negotiated this stuff in lieu of a larger salary because my quality of life is important to me. Plus I have a real cute small dog that I’ve been able to bring with me to every other job I’ve ever had. He’s used to being in an office and is quiet and very friendly and I love spending time with him.

After a few months and some hassling, I received a cell phone, but shortly after my hiring our office inexplicably became strictly a no dog office, a randomly enforced company-wide policy (we have offices across the US). I requested to work from home one day a week to help alleviate the unexpected cost of the dog walker I was now forced to hire, and was told no, that it would disrupt the “collaborative nature” of the office, despite my managers and co-workers frequently working from home. Other than just “conveniently” being forced to work from home with some frequency due to other pretend reasons (which I really don’t want to do, I hate lying), I don’t really know what other bargaining chips I have. I felt I presented a reasonable solution, though it seems there was no negotiation on this issue, despite being promised this in my interview.

My dog walker costs $240 a month (and that’s only 3x a week!), plus a lot of added stress worrying about my pooch. It’s also difficult for my to stay at the office late because I need to get home to take care of him. I guess more frustrating than that, I feel disrespected and lied to, which makes working here a lot less fun than it should be. Other than just “getting over it,” is there any way to make myself feel better about this situation?

Well, it’s not all that typical to be able to bring a dog to work; you’ve been lucky to find employers who have been willing to allow it! But if they promised it to you, it’s crappy that they backtracked on that, as well as on the other stuff. I’d address the whole situation head-on, politely but assertively

For instance: “When were negotiating my job offer, the company agreed that I could work from home X days a week (or month) and bring my dog to work several days a week. I understand that the dog policy has since changed, but these were specific things that we included as part of my offer and I’d like to figure out what we can do about the telecommuting.”

2. Is it odd for an employer to ask why you’re withdrawing from a hiring process?

Thanks to your help with my resume, I did two phone interviews for two different positions at the same company. After one of them, I was asked to come in for a three-hour in-person interview with a bunch of the team members I’d be working with in that role. After agreeing to come in the next week, I did some research about the company the night I accepted the interview.

Wow. The reviews of executive management were terrible, and there were A LOT of them. As nice as the people were that I’d dealt with so far, I didn’t want to work for a company that clearly had issues and wasn’t addressing them. So the next day, I emailed the HR person I had been working with to let her know that upon further consideration, I didn’t think the position was the right fit for me.

She replied that she was surprised, and that she wanted to know why I didn’t want to proceed. I gave her an honest, concise answer–I had read the reviews about upper management, and I was concerned about taking a position with them. She wrote back and said that she wished I’d mentioned this earlier, and that she would have preferred to address this over the phone. She said she was aware that this was a concern, and that it wasn’t the first time she’d heard it before. I was kind of taken aback–I’ve never had someone ask me why I didn’t accept a job offer or why I wasn’t interested. Is this common?

There’s nothing wrong with an employer asking why you’re withdrawing or not accepting an offer — just like there’s nothing wrong with a candidate asking an employer for feedback. But both parties can’t do it in a demanding or accusatory way and have to be willing to take no for an answer. It’s hard for me to tell if this HR person met that standard or not — I could read this either way, but certainly if she was rude or demanding, she was out of line.

3. Haven’t heard from employer since accepting a job offer

I signed and returned a job offer to a company on Friday. The HR advisor acknowledged its receipt. Everything including salary and start date has been set. I start on July 2. I gave my notice to my current job and the ball for my resignation is now in play…the announcement of my leaving was made, etc.

I haven’t heard from the HR advisor from the new company….what should I do? The last contact we had was Monday morning, when I asked if I could bump my start date by 2 days. She acknowledged and accepted. Just a quick email. The irrational, paranoid side of me is thinking things will fall through if I don’t keep in constant contact. What do you think? Should I wait for the HR advisor to contact me? Should I wait a week and contact her if I don’t hear from her?

Sounds like you’re all set. Being in constant contact afterwards isn’t typical. I’d just email the hiring manager a few days before your start date to confirm and say you’re excited about starting on the 2nd!

4. Can I refuse to train my replacement?

Can I be fired for insubordination for refusing to train my replacement?

Yes.

5. Don’t do this

Just opened an application – this was what I found on the page where the resumé is supposed to be uploaded:

“This seems weird but instead of the resume, I’m gonna include a link to my LinkedIn account as it pretty much acts as my resume.
https://www.linkedin.com/profile/xxxxxxxxx
I tried applying via linked in but was receiving errors.

Thanks,
Candidate Name”

Aiyee.

Yeah, this is not a good idea.

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Is it a red flag if an employer offers a job interview right away?

I recently offered a part-time employee a promotion (still a part-time position, but with more work, more hours, and of course higher pay), which I was expecting him to accept. But he has several projects going on right now and declined in order to keep his schedule as open as possible, which I completely understand (and he will not be penalized for it in any way).

But that’s left me in a bit of a lurch – I need a shift manager sooner rather than later. Two of my current manager-level employees are moving on in early August, and it takes while to get a new employee trained as a manager. I posted a job listing earlier this week and already have a handful of good candidates that I would like to invite for an interview. But how long should I wait? I know many job searchers expect it to be 3-4 weeks weeks before they hear anything. Would it be strange to get an interview invitation in 3-4 days? Would I be sending up any red flags, when all I want to do is get this done quickly? Or is it just a breath of fresh air for applicants?

Breath of fresh air. If they’re truly strong candidates (and not just the best you have so far), go ahead and invite them to interview; there’s no need to impose artificial waiting times. But do make sure they’re truly strong candidates; often the strongest candidates don’t apply instantly because they’re not constantly looking and might only occasionally check job ads, and you don’t want to hire people simply because they’re the first to show up.

2. We accidentally left our new employee behind when we went to a staff lunch

We have quarterly staff lunches, but due to the size and our work we have to split the lunch into two sets. My new employee, who started a few weeks ago, was put into the second group. While the staff left, my colleague went to the bathroom and in the rush of getting taxis, etc., she was left behind. My employee is furious.

I am her direct supervisor but was not part of the planning committee. What can I do, as I don’t think this was intentional? I am also new to this organization and I feel terrible. Our manger only said, “Why didn’t she just get her own taxi to join?” I am not sure this an appropriate response and would like to tell people to just apologize to her. But everyone is taking the lead of the manager and no one has said anything to her.

While that was absolutely an oversight that shouldn’t have happened, she’s furious? That’s a bit of an overreaction. I agree that she should have just gotten a taxi herself, but even if she didn’t think to do that (or for some reason thought it wasn’t an option), fury isn’t really warranted here. I would tell her that you’re very sorry that this happened, that it was obviously not intentional, and that you assume that in the rush to get into taxis, each group assumed she was with the other. Maybe add that you’d like to take her out to lunch (or take her and rest of your team, if it’s a small one) to make up for it. And you can also make a point of showing her that she’s valued in other ways, and go out of your way to include her in group discussions and anything else that comes up. But I don’t think this requires a major to-do beyond that.

3. Talking to my boss about career development when I don’t want to stay here long-term

I am a relatively recent college graduate, and I am still figuring out my career. In the meantime, I’m ironically working in a career services-related job (which is how I came across your blog). My boss is a great manager and checks up on me pretty regularly. Often he’ll ask me how I’m liking my job, what I’d like to do more of, where I see myself going, etc. He even brings up multiple times that he hopes I won’t leave anytime soon. The problem is I don’t see myself long-term in this position. It’s a decent temporary position until I figure things out. I don’t particularly enjoy the work, which is basically an entry-level assistant position, and I’m often bored. There aren’t really ways to create new projects because the job and department are very structured (and I honestly just don’t care). And there aren’t other positions within the organizations I’m interested in.

When he asks me these questions, I’m never sure how to tactfully answer them. I know he wants me to respond with answers that show that I’m invested in this job and company, but I’m honestly not. What responses can I give him that makes these conversations and my performance evaluations constructive (without giving away that I intend to stay only for a little while longer)? I really respect my boss and want to make a good impression while I’m here. I do want to gain more higher level skills (project management, etc.), although I have no idea what that would practically look like in my position and department.

“This is a great place to work for someone who’s still thinking about long-term career goals! One thing I’d love to get more exposure to is X and Y — would there ever be opportunities for me to do a little bit of work in those areas or even just talk with people who do?”

But also — while it’s totally reasonable not to see yourself staying long-term, you probably should try to stay at least a year, if not two — for your resume’s sake, for the sake of your future reference, and for your reputation overall. (You can get away with one short-term stay, but it means that you’ll really need to stay at your next job for a good solid period, or you’ll start looking like you have a pattern of job-hopping.)

4. How can I coach my employee to interview well for a promotion?

I have an employee who has worked for my company for 10+ years in various roles. She has been in her current role for about 2.5 years and is ready to move up to the next level or stage within the career path of our department. She has previously interviewed twice for the next level role, but has not been chosen. I just started managing this employee about 4 months ago, and my impression of her that she is a solid and dependable person who is confident in her role. Much to my surprise, I just learned that she was passed over for a promotion the last two times because she didn’t interview well when asked basic questions about handling work situations and lacked confidence.

What can I do to help coach this employee so that she is seriously considered for the next level when another opening becomes available? As her manager, should I be helping guide her through what interviewers are looking for, and even going so far as to do role playing with me as the hiring manager and her as the interviewee? Are there resources or websites I could direct her to that might help her prepare and practice for an interview?

Well, this website is one! You might direct her to my (free) guide to preparing for an interview.

But more generally, it would be a really kind thing if you helped her prepare for an interview, even role playing an interview if she wants to do that. And there’s something else you can do, which might even have a bigger impact on her chances: The next time she’s applying for a promotion, speak to the hiring manager for that job and let them know how great she is. Hearing accolades from her current manager can be very persuasive.

5. Can HR tell me if I’m rehireable?

I was recently terminated from my job. Is HR allowed to tell me if I am re-hireable?

That’s up to them. There’s no law on this; employers can handle it however they want. That said, if you were fired for cause, you are probably not re-hireable there. If you were laid off (meaning that your position was eliminated), you probably are, although they might have a waiting period before they will do that.